TWIST Exclusive: TWIST Chats With Early Morning Rebel!

We just sat down with Nathan Blumenfeld-James and Dustin Bath, the members of indie-pop band Early Morning Rebel! The guys dished all about how they came up with their band name, what mega pop star they would want to collaborate with, and their plans for their upcoming tour! Make sure to look out for two new surprise singles, premiering later this summer on their website and check out Early Morning Rebel's Shoutout to TWIST readers + Exclusive Performance below!

XOXO,
TWIST

TWIST: What inspired you guys to name the band Early Morning Rebel?
Nathan: Dustin and I have been coming up with band names for a while and we have a game that we like to play where we come up with lists of band names, funny band names, weird band names and cool bands names. When we were starting the band, we went through that list and this one caught our attention. We lived [with] it for a second [and] we felt that it worked well with the music that we were doing.
T: How would you describe your sound?

N: It has like an indie rock element to it, but there are a lot of pop elements as well. We have some songs that are full band and have the full production with drums and bass. Separately we also have a lot of stripped down [and] raw songs.

T: What is the songwriting process like?

N: We always write our songs starting on an acoustic guitar or a piano. So we start there and usually I come up with a cord progression and put the melody. It stays there for a while and then I start putting words on it. If we feel like the song needs it, we'll bring in the drummer and the bass player, but a lot of times we'll just leave it the way it is and we'll just add a couple of little elements. We have two different ways of finishing a song: it's either we go full out and it's full band or we keep it really sparse and raw.

T: Anyone that you guys would want to do collaboration with?

Dustin: Yeah, it would be cool to do something with Lady Gaga! It would be interesting. She's an amazing songwriter. She does a lot of the pop stuff, but some of her songs are a little deeper.

T: What's the one item that you have to take with you when you go on tour?

N: Definitely have to have your phone to call people at home. Also you want to have the right clothes. It's good to have the right stuff so that you can feel comfortable on stage. I have got to have my jackets and my boots. The right jackets, the right boots, the right hats and the right sunglasses.

D: The right sunglasses!

N: Multiple outfits so that you can feel good about yourself.

T: Any embarrassing moments that you have had?

N: My dad was very embarrassing growing up. He'd really mess with me. He'd drop me off at school and he knew that I would have him drop me off a little bit farther from school because I didn't want people to see that he was dropping me off. I was walking to school being cool. He would always drop me off away from the school and then he'd follow me as I'd walk and he'd be like 'Bye honey! I love you!' and I'd always be seething inside. Now it's different because now I just laugh. I'm really close with him so he always makes me laugh but back then it was tough.

T: What is something quirky about yourself no one knows about you?

D: My hair looks a lot better after not washing it for a couple of days.

N: He will go mutiple days without washing his hair.

D: Oh, I shower daily! It's the right oil consistency. I don't do the full shower cap.